It's Bad, Saints Lose 5-4 to Railcats, Near Elimination

ST. PAUL, MNAugust 30, 2012

It's Bad, Saints Lose 5-4 to Railcats, Near Elimination

August 30, 2012 at 11:25 PM

GARY, IN (August 30, 2012) – Michael Jackson was honored in his hometown on Thursday night at U.S. Steel Yard as his children Prince, Paris and Blanket were in attendance. The Saints may have had a blanket put over their playoff chances after losing their second consecutive one run game 5-4 to the Gary SouthShore Railcats. The Winnipeg Goldeyes lost for the second consecutive evening, but the Saints failed to capitalize and remain 3.0 back of the Wild Card with just four to play.

The Saints carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning and with Saints ace Robert Coe giving up just two hits through the first six innings things looked good. In the seventh, however, Chris Carrara reached on a bunt single with one out. Carrara stole second and with two outs Adam Klein dumped a single into right field scoring Carrara and tying the game at two. Coe left the game with the left-hander Mike Massaro coming to the plate. Lefty Taylor Sinclair came out of the bullpen and Massaro dropped a bunt down. Sinclair couldn’t field it cleanly and Massaro reached on the single. Billy Spottiswood came on in relief for the Saints and he walked Brian Kolb to load the bases. Ryan Babineau hit a two-run single to right-center giving the Railcats a 4-2 lead. Coe went 6.2 innings allowing three runs on four hits while walking six and striking out a career high nine, but failing in his second attempt to tie the single-season franchise record for wins with 12.

The Saints found a way to tie it in the top of the eighth. Adam Frost singled against Railcats starter Stephen Hiscock with one out. Hiscock left the game for Dexter Carter who had not allowed a home run all season. That was until Willie Cabrera stepped to the plate and crushed a two-run homer to left, his 12th of the season, tying the game at four.

In the bottom of the eighth the Railcats regained the lead. Zac Mitchell led off by reaching on a fielding error by first baseman Ole Sheldon. He was sacrificed to second. Carrara’s infield single to third moved Mitchell to third and David Cooper followed with an RBI single to left that proved to be the difference.

Coe began the game for the Saints by striking out the first five Railcats he faced and the only run he gave up before the seventh was in the second when he walked Mitchell with two outs and Trevor Willis tripled him home.

The Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Jim Rapoport led off the game with a single to right-center. With two outs Sheldon singled him to second and Bourquin singled him home.

With the score tied at one in the third Bourquin came up with another two out RBI single. With two outs Cabrera reached on an error by third baseman Brian Kolb, Sheldon was hit by a pitch and Bourquin singled him home to give the Saints a 2-1 lead.

The same two teams meet in the finale of the four game series on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. The Saints send RHP Anthony Claggett (7-4, 5.07) to the mound against Railcats LHP Jon Gulbransen (4-1, 3.47). The game will not be on radio, but can be heard on saintsbaseball.com courtesy of Minnesota Sports Broadcast Network.